In order to introduce business to a friend, Mr. Gao from Liuyang invited his friend Mr. Zhou and his business partners to have a dinner together. Unexpectedly, Mr. Zhou got into a traffic accident while driving drunk and paid the price with his life.
Afterwards, Mr. Zhou’s relatives brought a table of people at the dinner party to court, claiming that they failed to dissuade them from drinking and allowed Mr. Zhou to drive away, causing Mr. Zhou’s traffic accident and causing a tragedy. They filed a lawsuit in court, demanding responsibility for Mr. Zhou’s death. Liability.
Recently, Liuyang Court held a hearing on this right-to-life dispute case and found that the organizer of the dinner party, Mr. Gao, had certain negligence when he failed to pay attention to Mr. Zhou when he was driving under the influence. The court ruled that he should bear 5% of the compensation liability and the rest. Diners are not responsible.
Basic facts of the case
Mr. Zhou, who is in his 30s, has worked for a company in our city for a long time, but failed to find a suitable job after leaving his job. In order to help Mr. Zhou, Mr. Gao, his classmate and good friend, took the initiative to contact Mr. Zhou and expressed his willingness to introduce business partners to him and engage in sock sales business together.
On the evening of October 10, 2018, after Mr. Gao contacted his business partners, he contacted Mr. Zhou by phone and invited him to have a dinner together to discuss cooperation matters. At 11 o'clock that night, Mr. Gao, his wife, and business partners Mr. Li and Mr. Dai met Mr. Zhou at a barbecue stall in Liuyang Economic Development Zone and decided to have a meal and drinks. During
, Mr. Gao took out a bottle of bayberry wine in a mineral water bottle, poured it into four cups, and each of the four people drank one cup. After drinking for three times, Mr. Zhou was still not satisfied. In the early hours of the morning, he rode his motorcycle to a nearby store to buy a bottle of Niulanshan liquor, which they drank together.
After drinking, Mr. Zhou, who was already drunk, fell down on Mr. Gao's car and slept for a while. At around 2 a.m., Mr. Zhou was woken up by Mr. Gao and decided to drive his car home. "I felt better at the time. After a nap, I felt much more awake." Mr. Gao said that after asking Mr. Zhou whether he could drive and receiving a positive reply, he was busy with his own affairs and did not ask any more questions.
However, less than two minutes after Mr. Zhou drove away, he ran off the road and hit a large camphor tree outside the road. Due to the violent impact, the vehicle was severely damaged and Mr. Zhou also died on the spot in the accident. Later, the traffic police department determined that the ethanol content in Mr. Zhou's blood was 109 mg/ml, and he was driving under the influence of alcohol. He also committed a speeding violation and bore full responsibility for the accident.
After obtaining the traffic accident liability certificate , Mr. Zhou's relatives had no objections, but they also believed that Mr. Gao and other friends at the dinner party, knowing that Mr. Zhou was drunk, still allowed him to drive and caused the tragedy, which was inescapable. responsibility. After many attempts at mediation failed, Mr. Zhou's family took the three dinner partygoers to court and demanded compensation.
Are the people at the same table responsible?
"You knew my son was drunk, why did you let him drive? Why didn't you dissuade him? Even if you called for a substitute driver, such a tragedy would not have happened." During the trial, Mr. Zhou's mother couldn't help but burst into tears when she talked about the emotional part. , loudly accused Mr. Gao and others in the dock of failing to dissuade Mr. Zhou from driving away on his own that night, causing Mr. Zhou to have a traffic accident and lead to tragedy.
The plaintiff’s attorney believed that Mr. Zhou, Mr. Gao and others had a dinner and drank together. As adults, they should know that they should not drive on the road after drinking. Driving is potentially dangerous, and they have obligations to act first, that is, to take care of each other. Temporary obligations, Mr. Gao and others failed to fulfill their obligations and allowed Mr. Zhou, who was drunk, to drive on the road, resulting in damage. Mr. Gao and others were subjectively guilty of negligence and were at fault. This fault has the same consequences as the damage. There is an indirect causal relationship between them, so they should bear corresponding legal liability.
Faced with the plaintiff’s accusation, Mr. Gao and others expressed their innocence, “I was kind-hearted to help him introduce business, and the purpose was not to drink. I only drank one glass of wine at that time, and I didn’t persuade him to drink. Mr. Zhou didn’t like it and bought liquor by himself. We also restrained him and fell asleep after drinking. When he woke up, he did not appear to be drunk, so we were not responsible."
Do we need to try our best to dissuade drunk driving after drinking? After a traffic accident, do people who dine together need to bear legal responsibility? The two parties launched a fierce debate in court over the responsibilities and obligations of compensation.
The court ruled that
still indulged in drunk driving despite knowing it. , need to bear responsibility
The court held that Mr. Zhou, as a person with full capacity for civil conduct, should have foreseen the possible dangers caused by driving a motor vehicle on the road after drinking, because he failed to fulfill his duty of care to his own safety. A unilateral accident occurred while driving a motor vehicle, and he himself should bear the main responsibility for the resulting damage.
However, according to the facts found, Mr. Gao intentionally introduced the business to Mr. Zhou based on his friendship with his classmates, which is in line with social advocacy. They have a fine tradition of helping each other, and they did not intentionally pour alcohol or persuade others to drink during the drinking process. Therefore, Mr. Gao and others were not at fault for Mr. Zhou’s excessive drinking and drunkenness. However, for the fact that Mr. Zhou was already in a drunken state, Mr. Gao should be aware of it.
Before Mr. Zhou sobered up, Mr. Gao should have fulfilled the necessary duty to remind Mr. Zhou of drunk driving or to prevent him from driving drunk, but Mr. Gao failed to do so. In fulfilling the above-mentioned duty of care, he has made certain mistakes and should bear certain responsibilities as appropriate.
As for several other diners, it was found that they had already left the scene when Mr. Zhou was driving drunk, and they were strangers to Mr. Zhou. He did not provide alcohol and had no knowledge of Mr. Zhou’s drunk driving behavior, so he was not liable for compensation.
Accordingly, based on the extent of Mr. Gao’s fault, the court ruled that Mr. Gao should bear 5% of the compensation liability and compensate Mr. Zhou’s family more than 44,000 yuan. Yuan, and rejected the other claims of Mr. Zhou’s family.
Don’t encourage drinking at dinner parties. You must be held responsible if you encourage others to drink.
In social life and interpersonal communication, it is more common to treat friends with wine, but “don’t drink and drive, and don’t drink while driving” is a legal requirement. It has also formed a habit in the whole society. Generally speaking, whether a person participates in drinking and the amount of drinking are all voluntary. However, in special circumstances such as gambling, drinking, and drinking, except for the drinker's own initiative. In addition to taking risks, the person who persuades the drinker also has to bear some responsibility.
The judge handling the case reminded that the person who persuades the drinker should be aware that drinking too much alcohol can lead to physical injury or even death. Being drunk, or subjectively letting the person become drunk, or knowingly knowing that harm will be caused to the drinker but believing that it can be avoided, constitutes a fault often referred to in civil law.
This kind of fault has a certain degree of harm to the body of the excessive drinker. The judge also specifically pointed out that if you use violent means to force others to drink, you may also bear criminal liability for intentional injury.
In addition, if you have an accident while drinking at a banquet, there are four things. The person who persuades the other person to drink must bear legal responsibility in the following situations: First, forced persuasion, such as using language such as "Not enough to be a friend if you don't drink" to stimulate the other person to drink, or still persuading the other person to drink when the other person is already drunk, unconscious and has no self-control. Behavior; second, knowing that the other person cannot drink but still persuading him to drink, such as knowing the other person's physical condition, still persuading him to drink to induce diseases, etc.; third, failing to escort the drunk person safely, if the drinker has lost or is about to lose the ability to control himself, When he was unconscious and unable to control his own behavior, his drinking partner failed to send him to the hospital or send him home safely; fourth, he failed to stop drunk driving, resulting in a car accident and other damages.
Source: Liuyang People's Court
Source: Changsha TV Political and Legal Channel
